1 The Republic of Tuva ( Tyva Respublika ) is a subject of the Russian Federation ( Russia ) in the centre of Inner Asia, bordering to the South on the independent Republic of Mongolia, which was until 1991 the Mongolian People’s Republic (‘MPR’). Tuva comprises 170,500 km 2 of the upper Yenisei river basin, virtually ‘sandwiched’ between the two ‘crescents’ of the Sayan mountain range in the North/Northwest and of the Tannu Ola range in the South. Tuva is inhabited by ca. 250,000 Tuvans ( Tyvalar ) and a large minority of ethnic Russians (ca. 60,000). The Tuvans...